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Breaking of the Butterflies
 
 

Breaking of the Butterflies [Kindle Edition]

Dominic Williams , Andrew Rodgers , Louisa Williams
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Product Description

Set during World War One, Breaking of the Butterflies is the story of Captain Dillon Reed, who joins the fledgling Military Foot Police of the British Army after
a successful career as a Detective in the Metropolitan Police. Dillon is asked to investigate the death of a potential Victoria Cross winner, Private Skelton, it is in the early stages of the investigation that he is confronted with the murder of the Brigadier who ordered the original investigation. As the death of the Brigadier occurs in French Municipal Territory, Dillon is obliged to engage the services of an Inspector of the Police Nationale of the French Interior Ministry, one Guy Audedert.

After a tense beginning to the relationship where egos and national prejudices clash, an uneasy truce is reached as they begin working together to uncover why the two men were murdered. Their investigation brings them into conflict not only on the battlefield but also in the slums of Paris and the streets of London. Dillon Reed is led through the terror of the trenches where the first clues as to why Private Skelton was killed emerge. Establishing links to the perpetrators proves difficult as they are adept at dispensing with potential witnesses before Dillon can get to them, until all the pieces of the jigsaw come together after an incident at the Opera in London when he is home on leave.

Dillon reluctantly returns to the front to continue his work of enforcing the Army's rules of engagement thinking that he has uncovered the truth only to find there is yet another level of culpability which he has overlooked. The final showdown on a cold October morning in No Mans Land exposes just how
far up the echelons of command the conspiracy extends…

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 268 KB
  • Print Length: 231 pages
  • Publisher: Dominic Williams; 1 edition (1 Jun 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B0055MJG0I
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #93,198 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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More About the Author

Dominic Williams
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
It's 1915 and, plucked from the familiarity and relative safety of his home patch in London, police Inspector Dillon Reed finds himself enlisted as a Captain in the military police and drafted to France to investigate the mysterious poisoning of a young soldier in the trenches.

His investigations take him from the horror of the front-line trenches, to the seedy backstreets & fashionable hotels of Paris, where the discovery of a British Army Brigadier, dead in his bath adds another twist to his investigations. The trail even leads him back to London. He has to deal with the closed-ranks of the British Army officer class, the resentment of the front-line soldiers and an enforced partnership with Guy Audedert, an Inspector in the French Prefecture; a working relationship which poses its own problems for them both.

An excellent read and not your usual murder mystery or war story, this book is very different and has an unexpected twist. I found it difficult to put-down as it races page by page through a really gripping and eye-opening plot. And, during all this, Reed has his own personal problems to deal with.

I am sure that there is a sequel here and I can't wait to read it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
breaking butterflies 18 Feb 2012
Format:Kindle Edition
This books opening makes the reader feel like they are in the trenchs slogging through the mud. The story builds in layers into an impressive conclusion. Read it and you'll be unable to put it down until you've fininshed it.
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Hard to put down 29 Sep 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
I found it very hard to put this book down. Right from the start I was intrigued as to the solution to the murder mystery that is at the heart of it. However, it becomes clear as you read further that, although the murder is the catalyst to the plot, there are wider issues to be dealt with; most obviously the horrors and violence of war and its effect on both the foot soldiers and their leaders, but also the corruption that power brings whatever the situation, and the way that the grand sweep of history can so deeply effect the lives of the individuals involved, even those who are not on the front lines.

The book can be quite violent in places; it's a war novel, so this is of course to be expected. The faint hearted should be prepared to understand that it does not flinch from describing the very worst of what people are willing to inflict upon each other, both on the battlefield and off it. This helps to build up an atmosphere of horror and tension that likely reflects the reality of life during WWI. When people are ordered by their governments to commit such acts of brutality to others on the front line, is it any surprise that violence is committed outside this arena as well?

Captain Reed is an engaging character whose internal dilemmas make him sympathetic to the reader. He does not always act in the manner his conscience would dictate, and as he wrangles with himself the reader can see how the circumstances effect and change a specific individual.

Overall, an engaging and enjoyable read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Disappointed
After reading the other reviews here, I confess i was disappointed. This wasn't the excellent book I'd been anticipating. Neither was it awful. Read more
Published 3 months ago by P. Evans
Excellent book....couldn't put it down!!
Great book. Great characters - you could really understand what they were thinking. Love the twists!! This book kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Shiv B
Better than expected!! A must read
This book was recommended to me to read. I was told it was a book set in the war and immediately I knew i wouldnt like it but I would give it a try. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Lorraine
Read this book!!!
I really enjoyed this book, so much so that I decided to write a review - something I've not bothered to do before now. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Karon McCARTHY
Exciting who dunnit in the Trenches
I really enjoyed this as a different take on life for soldiers in the trenches. Captain Reed is a likeable character and leads us into a dismal underworld to solve a crime and dish... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Emily Ash
Gripping read, couldn't put down
What an excellent book for a first book! The attention to detail makes you feel that you are actually there, reliving the conditions of the trenches. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Guy Thompson
Met vs Military Murder Mystery
Engaging and gripping from the outset, lots of layers and strands weaving through this wartime murder mystery. The characters are complex and charismatic. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Aperture_Addict
Breaking of the Butterflies
A fantastic read, with everything you could want in a great book. You know when you are reading a brilliant novel because you can't put the book down,took me 3 days to read.
Published 11 months ago by karen mason
Great read.
Really enjoyed this one. The horror of war, psychological trauma, violence and love. What more could you want? Took two days to read it! Couldn't put it down.
Published 11 months ago by Jay D
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